Cold mushrooms are quality mushrooms
Postharvest temperature management
Temperature is certainly the key factor determining the storage life of fresh mushrooms. It affects weight loss, colour change, firmness, stipe elongation, cap opening, bacterial growth and overall freshness. While there are many things growers can do to improve quality at harvest (see MushroomLink Summer p11, Best practice in mushroom supply chains for more on this), it is the temperatures that mushrooms experience afterwards that are key to determining the quality consumers experience.
In Issue 08 of MushroomLink magazine, Dr Jenny Ekman discusses:
Principles of cooling
Thermal conductivity
Cooling methods
Energy efficiency
Keeping mushrooms cold
Manage the risk of warming